June really is record soaker

It has ruined barbecues, soaked ComFest partiers and left Little Leaguers disappointed.

It has ruined barbecues, soaked ComFest partiers and left Little Leaguers disappointed.

It has closed roads, swamped yards and kept lawn mowers in the garage while the grass creeps ever higher.

Five straight days of rain to usher out the month have made this June the soggiest on record in Columbus.

The two-thirds of an inch recorded Saturday at Port Columbus boosted the month's total to 9.92 inches, breaking the 50-year-old record of 9.75 inches set in 1958.

Almost four-tenths of an inch fell yesterday, upping the rainfall level to 10.31 inches. More rain is forecast today to end the record-setting month.

"If we were a swim team, we could have done quite well," said softball mom Debra Boros of Elyria, waiting for the Lady Lasers to take the field yesterday at Berliner Park. "I can't ever remember so many rain delays and rainouts."

Rain washed away one Saturday round of a National Softball Association girls' tournament at the South Side fields and delayed yesterday's games by three hours.

Director Mike Craig said all four tournaments in June have been hit by storms. The weather has made weekends especially long and tiring for parents such as Boros, whose children play on teams that travel across Ohio for games. One West Virginia squad, facing late-night games, the possibility of more bad weather and a long drive home, packed it in early yesterday.

It was a wise choice, even though yesterday was fairly dry by this month's standards. Storms on Wednesday and Thursday contributed the most to the new June record, with 1.35 inches and 2.31 inches, respectively.

Through Sunday, Port Columbus had recorded 28.71 inches of moisture this year -- 10.18 inches above normal. June's rainfall was just shy of three times normal.

The Ohio Department of Health has issued an advisory reminding people to keep pools chlorinated, make sure gutters drain properly and eliminate standing water around their homes. Mosquitoes breed in such places, and the first ones of the year carrying the West Nile virus in Ohio were found last week in the Cleveland area.

Our deluges of late have been courtesy of warm, moist air from the Gulf of Mexico colliding with high-altitude cold fronts.

The relentless rain left the Pickaway County Fairgrounds a muddy, rutted mess as the county fair ended yesterday in Circleville.

Even though umbrellas and ponchos were as much a fixture as the corn dogs and cotton candy, fair attendance increased this year, said Mike Bennett, a fair-board member.

"With all the rain, it's surprising," he said.

One upside to the rain: It made Saturday night's demolition derby even more of a spectacle as the beaters slid and slung mud while bashing into each other.

"We had a couple of 4x4s that were pulling out the cars stuck in the mud and putting on a show. The people enjoyed that," Bennett said.

In Pickerington, mud was the enemy yesterday, as dads tried to ready Field No. 4 for the championship game of the Pickerington Youth Athletic Association's 9- to 12-year-old girls' league.

Bill Everett, Cameron Vaughan and Scott Engle raked dry dirt into water-logged areas around second base as more dark clouds rolled in from the south.

"I don't know," Everett said.

"It's going to miss us," Vaughan said. "We may have to play with the lights on, though."

Within an hour, the game was rescheduled for today.

According to WBNS-TV (Channel 10), showers and thunderstorms are likely today and tonight, with temperatures reaching only 70 this afternoon.

The weather is expected to dry out Tuesday, the first day of July, with sunny skies and a high of 79. Rain creeps back into the forecast on Thursday.

More sky-watching is predicted in July, which is typically the wettest month of the year in Columbus, with an average of 4.61 inches of rain.